One in Thousands
by MashPotatoeSquishBanana
Summary: A ghost girl from the 1800's falls in love with Nico when the son of Hades appears to bring his half sister back to life. Patty watches him from afar, but he'll never love her back. After all, she was only one in thousands, right?
1. Love at First Sight

Patricia Maters was utterly dumbfounded. One minute, she was under water, her lungs burning, unable to reach the surface. The next, blackness. And now… where the hell _was _she?

When she looked up, she couldn't see the sky. All it was was a roof with stalactites that looked precariously close to breaking off and falling, spearing someone. There was evidence of previous accidents strewn around the place.

In the distance, Patty tried to make out the horizon, but all she saw was endless darkness, a faint lilac haze in the distance. The place went on forever.

A giant underground cavern, Patty decided.

The line of people crawled along sluggishly. The place was crowded. Chocker blockers full of people… but the longer she looked at them, the more transparent they became. Patty frowned and tried to concentrate on one young woman in a line that was moving at half the rate that Patty's line was.

Patty couldn't pinpoint what exactly was changing about the woman's appearance. She couldn't look fully at the woman. Before she knew it, the woman was just a transparent ghost of the woman she had been a second before.

Patty began to feel her stomach churn with butterflies. An old myth she had read in primary school, that hadn't seemed so important at the time, was resurfacing in the back of her mind. Something about… was it the Underwear? Or was that Underworld? She decided to go with the latter.

People who died made the journey on a boat that crossed the River Styx… It was all coming back to her. The man Charon who had asked for a coin. She had reached into her pocket and brought out her lucky charm without thinking. It was actually a five yen coin, Japanese currency. The coin was a thin gold circle with Japanese decorations engraved in the gold, and a small circular hole cut out of the middle, about a quarter of the size of her pinky nail.

Charon had inspected the Japanese coin for a moment, then shrugged and put in the breast pocket of his Italian suit. "Better 'n' nothin'," he'd muttered. Then she had been pushed into a futuristic elevator full of other people just as confused as her. Patty recalled the uncomfortable feeling of her ears popping as the elevator took them down, down, until it had morphed into a boat and they were sailing across a black river polluted with strange objects like golden stopwatches and broken mugs.

Patty was still soaking wet from her last swim, which had ended up costing her life. In the cool, dank air of the underground cavern, she shivered and hugged herself, missing her home.

After what seemed like hours, she reached a platform at which three official- looking men sat at with blank, staring expressions.

Those unblinking stares were aimed at her now. They studied her, sizing her up. Patty felt self conscious under the scrutinizing stare of these three intimidating, silent men.

Just when it became unbearable, one said in a monotone, "Patricia Maters. Drowned in the Mediterranean Ocean while on vacation."

The judge in the middle continued in the same bored voice, "Was attending Saint Sinclair School. Both parents, Elizabeth Eno Maters and John Hienrick Maters are currently alive."

"Born in England, 1805. Died at age fourteen," the third judge ended.

The three judges turned their full focus on Patty. She tried to melt into the cold ground, her face starting to feel hot, a sharp contrast against the now- freezing air.

"Asphodel," the first judge sighed.

"Asphodel," the other two repeated in bored voices. An unseen force pushed Patty off the platform. Another scared looking, shivering child much like herself took her place at the stage.

"Oliver Secreay. Killed in motor vehicle accident…" Patty was herded by the crowd into an endless field. Transparent beings floated (literally) aimlessly. The young, dead girl shivered involuntarily. Was this what she was doomed to suffer through for the rest of eternity?

An uneventful century passed.

Patty struggled to hold on to vague memories that sometimes resurfaced within her drugged mind. But she always forgot moments after she had remembered.

Lord Hades visited maybe once a decade or so, made the rounds, checked on his kingdom.

Eventually, Patty got used to the horrible screams that could be heard from the Fields of Punishment. She also learned to stay clear of the Furies when a fellow ghost was dragged away by Alecto, never to be seen again, simply for trying to get a peek at the Lady Persephone's magnificent, spectacular precious gem and crystal gardens.

Another thirty five years was gone before she even realised it. It was around that time that a peculiar kind of ghost arrived in Asphodel, confused, like every other newly dead soul, distraught about her mother, who was also dead and somewhere in the endless fields of doom.

The young girl, perhaps a year or two younger than Patty, was unlike any ghost Patty had ever seen in her time in the Underworld.

The girl spoke in a funny way, in a dialogue Patty had not heard in a total of 135 years. English. A human voice.

The girl had a funny way of accenting her "R's".

Patty spoke with her once, yearning for news of the world above, for the girl was just so _approachable _and _friendly_. In her haste to learn about the New World, Patty forgot to ask the girl's name.

Rumours were circulating before long. "The daughter of The Lord belongs in the castle," people whispered, wondering why the girl was condemned to eternity in Asphodel.

A search party was sent to look for the girl's lost but very dead mother.

No woman by the name of Marie Levesque was found.

With all the talk about the strange new ghost, it wasn't hard to find out the girl's name. Hazel Levesque.

Over the next eight decades, Hazel became withered and transparent and, in short, miserable, a mirror image of every other soul in Asphodel.

People worshipped Hazel, her being the offspring of Lord Hades. Hazel had a strange habit of calling him Pluto.

"As in the dwarf planet?" Patty had once said, but Hazel had looked at her blankely, like she didn't understand. It was then that Patty realised it wasn't herself Hazel was staring at. It was something behind them.

Patty turned to see a boy of about fourteen striding towards them.

He wasn't anything special- wasn't handsome, or strong, or intimidating. But the crowds of the dead still pressed back against each other when he passed, as if he carried the plague miasma.

Patty found herself doing the same when he passed her, but it wasn't him that was emanating the presence of fear- it was the black, wicked looking blade he carried on his belt.

The boy was aiming straight for Hazel. And Hazel  
was the only ghost who hadn't done everything in her power to stay far away from him.

The boy walked right up to her, with an arrogance that Patty admired and it was only when he was standing right next to an actual ghost that Patty saw how different he looked. It wasn't so much his physical appearance- the guy's skin was so pale and translucent he could have passed for Snow White if he added a bit of lip stick, brushed his messy black hair and wore a yellow dress- but there was life in his eyes. Hazel's eyes were dead- literally.

"You're different," he said in a way that reminded Patty of Lord Hades.

Hazel frowned. "How do you mean?"

"You're a demigod. Daughter of Hades, right? You remember you're previous life."

"A demigod." Hazel said slowly, as if tasting the word in her mouth.

"Yeah. Half mortal_"

"Half god." Hazel finished, nodding slowly, as if it explained a lot of things.

"I'm Nico di Angelo," the boy, Nico, said, holding out his hand. "Son of Hades. I'm going to take you out of this dump. I lost my other sister to an automaton. I won't let you suffer what she had to go through. The Doors of Death are open. You can live again."

Hazel caught Patty's eyes before her new brother ushered her through the zombie crowds; every single ghost's eyes followed the pair of siblings until the two had disappeared from view.

* * *

That was the last time Patty saw Hazel. But it certainly wasn't the last time Nico di Angelo showed up. He spoke to no one, hardly ever acknowledged the mobs of ghosts that crowded to meet the famous son of Hades.

Sometimes the boy would let down his guard, and would smile, or nod his head at a ghost. Once he even waved at Patty. Before she could regather her wits and wave back, he was gone, slipping through the clusters of ghosts that parted to make way for his Stygian Iron sword.

Gone like the memories of her previous life.

And though she no longer sported a beating heart, the place where her heart used to reside was empty now, and she could feel it every second of every hour, every second she could feel that empty, aching hole.

For when Nico had waved and smiled at her, for a second she had felt content. For a second, she had felt as if she could push the misery out of her head.

But the moment was gone before she could register that Nico had acknowledged her as an individual, and not as just one of a crowd.

He was alive. He was human. He would never in a millennia return her feelings. So she should destroy that yearning for mutual love before it got out of control and she could never be happy again.

Because, after all, she was only one of thousands, right?


	2. AN

**Hey, guys. How did people like the first chapter? Only one review? That sucks. Thankyou sooooo much, . for being ****_the only reviewer_****. **

**So, I'm thinking of writing a sequel to ONE IN THOUSANDS, which will be posted as Chapter Three. This next chapter will be courtesy of the before mentioned reviewer, as they asked about a sequel to this story. You can read their review if you want to know more.**

**Not sure what the sequel will be called, but I'm already in the process of writing it. I'll only post if I get at least another review for this story.**

**So, yeah. Reviews: me happy. Me happy: sequel. No reviews: me sad and feeling rejected. Me sad and rejected: no sequel and an angry fan.**

**Bananana out :P**


	3. Contentment

**Title: Contentment**

**Main Characters: Nico di Angelo and Patricia Maters, my OC**

**Status: Sequel to 'One In Thousands'.**

**Hola, amigos. OMFG. 8 reviews? That's amazing. And for one chapter!**

**I wasn't planning on making a sequel to 'One In Thousands', but here we go.**

**This was mainly inspired by . , but I'd like to thank everyone else who shared their opinion with me! **

**I hope you enjoy. :)**

Was it possible to fall in love when you're dead? Apparently, yes. And Patricia Maters was your evidence.

Only a mere ghost girl who had died in the 1800's, Patty had spent a total of 136 years standing in the fields of Asphodel.

Approximately nine months ago, in human time, she had met Nico di Angelo. It was love at first sight. For her, at least.

If Nico di Angelo hadn't shown up to bring his half- sister Hazel back to life, Patty might have spent the next 200 years standing in one spot trying to recall the events of her previous life.

But, alas, that was not meant to be, for, in fact, the son of Hades HAD waltzed into her life and Patty HAD fallen in love with him.

When Nico occasionally visited the Underworld, Patty kept her eyes glued to him, making sure she had visualised every single detail about his appearance so that she could recall his image when she yearned for individual attention and mutual love.

She noticed things about him that may have seemed normal but were extra special to her, for he was _alive _and _here. _Sharing the same, well, Underworld, as her.

Patty sometimes wanted to die for good. None of this eternity- of- boredom and discontentment- crap.

She wanted a peaceful oblivion of numbness, for her memory to be completely wiped. Not all the pain of _trying _to remember, of the memories being _there _but just out of reach.

Same as Nico. He was always _there. _But impossible to reach. Just like when Patty was alive, and she would climb trees to pick apples. The best ones were always hanging, just out of her reach. And the one time she took the plunge and actually reached out to get one, she really did take the plunge. Broke her leg. Was confined to a bed for weeks. And she had then developed a fear of heights, and was too afraid to ever try again.

The Nico situation was exactly the same. What if she actually approached him? And admitted her feelings? And got rejected? Then she would have to live (can you _live _once you've died?) for eternity with the humiliation and misery.

But if she never tried, how could she learn? How could she solidify her feelings for him?

Patty was aimlessly wondering, her eyes straining to see into the distance, the faint lilac haze in the distance making it impossible to make out the horizon.

A nearby group of ghosts chattered in an indecipherable language that only the dead could decipher.

Even the son of Hades couldn't understand when his people tried to communicate with him.

What seemed like weeks passed in the blink of an eye. When you've got eternity, the weeks, days, and hours seem to become one huge, dark void of misery and regret for what she could have been.

Patty sometimes wondered what she would have been if she had lived to a ripe old age. If she would have gotten married, had children, _grandchildren, _even. The only bonus that she got from dying young was that she didn't get to see her parents die.

To see them age, become part of the living dead. Patty shuddered involuntarily.

Just then, a bloodcurdling scream echoed through Hell. Every head whipped towards the direction the terrified voice came from.

A blond girl was stumbling across the Fields of Asphodel in a drunken manner, like she had downed too much of the cider Patty's father had always stowed in his bottom bedside draw, hidden from her mother's view.

A dark haired boy, perhaps a bit older than Patty, was frantically following her.

Only when the girl stumbled and fell, only a hundred yards from where Patty stood rooted to the spot, could our ghost clearly see that the girl was not dead- she was very much alive. In the Underworld, which did not make any sense. And then Patty noticed the nasty wounds.

She was bleeding heavily from multiple places; her collar bone was crooked. The girl lay still, seemingly lifeless. The boy came to a stop before her unmoving body, tears making clean tracks down his dirt- ridden face, his shoulders shaking with violent sobs. He rolled the girl's body over.

Patty gave an audible gasp. The girl's face was clawed to bits- her left cheek was ragged, bloody. Only a monster from the pits of Tartarus could have done that. The boy wasn't in any better shape, his body bruised and bloody, his right arm in a strange kind of sling.

Patty could now hear his sobs. Loud, shuddering. The girl moaned softly and opened her eyes. Patty tried to move closer without seeming conspicuous. "Percy," she groaned, then hiccupped multiples times. Her chest convulsed terribly. Her ragged face scrunched up in pain.

Just then a shadow popped out of nowhere, right on top of Patty. The shadow became a living, breathing, black haired boy. Nico di Angelo. Patty's nonexistent heart stopped.

Their eyes met for a hundredth of a second, then he was stuttering apologies, and running uncoordinatedly towards the boy and the girl.

"Percy!" Nico screamed. "Annabeth!" Nico fell to his knees before the girl, Annabeth.

"Annabeth," Nico sobbed. The girl's physical life was blurring- she was now in limbo, the blank place somewhere between life and death. She was edging towards death. Patty could feel her physical pain- every single ghost could feel the girl's pain, her screaming conscience.

Some unseen force was sucking any life in the Underworld out of all the ghosts, transmitting it into the girl's slowly dying body. Perhaps the girl's godly parent?

Percy, the dark haired boy, buried his head in the girl's hair. Even from where she was standing, Patty could hear his heart- wrenching, soft spoken words. The whole Underworld had become deathly silent.

"Annabeth." Percy whispered. "I love you. So much." Annabeth grasped his hand weakly. Then her spirit left her body. She visibly slumped. Percy continued to clutch desperately at her lifeless hand, as though it were his only lifeline. A cold radiated over the Underworld. Patty shivered.

Percy collapsed over the body. Nico was openly crying, his hand stroking Annabeth's limp, pale arm.

"Annabeth." Percy cried. "No! You're not dead. Not dead." Percy's voice became weaker, like it was just sinking in that she wasn't coming back. "No. She's not dead." Percy looked at Nico with a wild light in his sea green eyes. "Annabeth Chase can't just.." his voice broke. "…die…"

Nico looked at Percy with empathetic sympathy in his eyes. "She's gone, Percy. Gone…"

Both boys started sobbing.

Patty lost her shyness. She drifted over to the pair of sorrowful boys. "Nico." She whispered.

He didn't pay any heed to her.

"Nico di Angelo, son of Hades," she said, a bit louder. He lifted his head. His dark eyes were red rimmed, bloodshot, his face puffy and so full of sorrow that Patty felt she might cry herself.

"Miss?" he asked, his voice croaky.

"I- I-," Patty stopped, then took a deep breath. "I'm sorry for your loss. So, so sorry. Every one of us feels your pain." Patty bowed deeply, met his eyes, then turned and walked away.

Percy erupted into another fit of crying. He didn't seem able to do anything but express his deep pain for the girl's death.

Patty felt a burst of sympathy well up inside her. Is this what her parents had felt when she had died?

It was only then that Patty realised that her parents would be dead. They would be standing in the Fields, just like her. Would they remember each other? Would they remember her?

Patty looked once again at Percy balling his eyes out over his girlfriend's lifeless body.

A wild idea popped into her head.

She started the long journey towards the Gates of Elysium. A job had to be done.

* * *

Patrica Maters died as an ordinary girl. She spent 136 years standing in one spot trying to remember her life. She was an ordinary ghost. One of thousands. Not important.

But she felt it was her duty to welcome a certain newly deceased person to the Underworld. She had felt the warm shroud of a soul- deep love leave the Underworld, leaving only ruthless, merciless, steely and unforgiving cold. She had felt Percy's pain, so deep and sharp that even those standing near him had felt it.

Just as Patricia arrived at the Gates, a ghost was entering. She had an uncertain gait to her walk, like she was disorientated and wondering where she was. Patricia could remember feeling exactly the same way when she entered through Gates much like that over a century ago. The ghost stopped just a few metres from where Patricia was standing.

Striding purposefully forward, Patricia said, "Annabeth Chase?"

Annabeth turned. "That's my name," she said in a daze.

"Annabeth, do you know where you are?"

"I'm dead. In Elysium." Just then, Annabeth seemed to snap out of her daze. She whipped around to Patricia in a sudden panic. "Oh gods. I'm dead. Not alive any more."

"That's right." Patricia felt sorry for the panicked girl.

"Where's Percy?" Annabeth asked, stopping suddenly.

Patricia took a deep breath. "You'll be glad."

Annabeth looked at her.

"He's alive. Miserable. But alive."

Annabeth put her head in her hands. "Yes," she said in a strange voice. She lifted her head. Tears were threatening to spill over in her grey eyes. "He'll grow old without me. Probably move on. Marry someone else. Because I died without him. No," Annabeth shook her head. Patricia was afraid that the blond was losing her mind with worry. "He'll mourn me. But he'll eventually get over it. Eventully. Maybe." That's when Annabeth fell to the ground at Patty's feet. "I love him. Always have, always will. I have to find him. Have to_"

"Annabeth!"

"Percy? Is that you? Thank god. I knew you wouldn't let me die alone."

"No, Annabeth." Suddenly Nico di Angelo was there, speaking urgently to her. "Listen, we don't have much time."

And, just like that, Annabeth was sober. Patricia stepped back, for once hoping Nico wouldn't notice her. He did. And he nodded at her, evidently remembering the timid ghost who had offered her condolences. "Nico di Angelo. Percy's cousin. Why am I here?"

"Not important. Well, it is, but… Agh! Never mind. Just listen." Nico lowered his voice. "I've broken the laws. I've brought Percy here. Just for a little bit. So that you two could have a proper good bye. You didn't exactly die very prettily."

"Does anyone, really?"

Nico, ignoring Annabeth's comment, whistled an eerie tune, and suddenly Percy was there. He and Annabeth stared into each other's eyes. Patricia didn't think that the world could get any quieter.

Percy and Annabeth came together then, and it was then that Patty saw the soft grey glow and the two- the blessing of Death that enabled a living being to physically touch a ghost.

The two kissed with passion, and Patty felt she couldn't tear her eyes away, though she felt the couple had every right to some privacy.

Patty backed away, slowly. She turned around, poised to run.

"Wait." Somebody said.

Patty turned. She couldn't disobey that voice.

"Yes, my Lord?" she asked timidly, her hands starting to shake.

Nico laughed. "I'm not a Lord. I'm just my father's son."

"But that's what makes you a Lord. I cannot disrespect you." Patty didn't know where the sudden formalities were coming from. She hadn't wanted to act like she was so inferior to him. Alas, that was just the way she handled nerve- rending situations like this.

"I didn't call you over to discuss my apparent Lordship. I wanted you to ask you a small favour."

"Yes… Lord?"

"Drop, the Lord thing, already! Just call me Nico."

"I'm sorry… Nico." Patty's insides felt warm and bubbly. How had she become so lucky? For Nico to speak directly to her? _Her?_

"Don't worry 'bout it."

"What is this 'small favour'?"

"Before I tell you, you have to agree. It's not hard. Not anything big. Just really, really important to me."

Patty thought over the pros and cons. Small favour. Important to Nico. She was won over straight away.

"I agree. Now what?" she asked, eager to hear his request.

Nico glanced over at Percy and Annabeth. Percy was cradling her head in his hands, whispering something to her. Annabeth had tears running down her cheeks. Patty, not wanting to intrude on the moment, looked away.

"You know, it's not such a _small _favour… I mean, it could change the rest of your… er, life after death?"

"Just spit it out!" Patty said impatiently. Then her cheeks flushed. "I mean, my Lord."

Nico cracked a smile that made Patty go weak at the knees. "I can grant you an eternity to Elysium." Patty perked up immediately. An eternity in Elysium? Sweet. "On one condition." Patty immediately sobered. What if this _condition _was impossible? No, Nico wasn't one to be cruel. Was he?

"What is this… condition?" Patty clenched her fists, waiting for him to say something like 'go to my father's castle and pick out his favourite pair of socks.'

"Keep an eye on Annabeth. I swear she went a bit loopy down in Tartarus."

"Deal." Patty said, not even hesitating. Nico stuck out his hand, a polite way to seal a deal.

Patty grasped his hand. His grip was warm and firm as they shook.

Afterwards, Nico smiled. "What's your name, since you seem to know mine very well?"

"I'm Patricia Maters. Known as Patty to my friends."

"Okay… Patty."

Patty couldn't help the grin that spread across her cheek bones at that.

"I'll see you around, eh?" Nico asked, backing away into the shadows.

Patty stared after him, then turned back to Percy and Annabeth. Percy was gone. Annabeth was on the ground, her head buried in the soft, moist dirt, so very, very different to the hard, dry, trodden soil of Asphodel.

"Annabeth," Patty said in a soft voice. "Please look at me."

Annabeth looked up. "What do you want?"

Patty stared into the girl's beautiful, grey eyes. "I want you to know that Percy loves you with all his heart. And I know that you love him, but you have to let him go. He has to fight the war. He has to win. And to win, he has to stay alive. Please understand." Patty pleaded.

Annabeth stared at Patty for a little while longer, scrutinizing her. "You have lost your heart as well. You have also shed many tears."

Patty felt herself wanting to share her story with Annabeth.

"I have shed many a tear for one boy. In fact, he's actually your boyfriend's cousin…"

Annabeth had settled down on the soft grass to listen to Patty's love story. By the time Patty was finished, she was snoring lightly. Patty stared up at the stars. Stars which she hadn't seen in so long. And she was sure she saw a boy in the stars. A boy with eyes as black as the midnight blue backdrop and skin white and pale as the sand on the shores of one of Elysium's many beaches.

Patty pretended not to notice when a warm tear ran down her cheek, plopped to the ground and soaked into the rich soil of Elysium.

For once, she was content.

**Alright, alright. I admit it: I cried. Yes, that's how lame I am.**

**But I don't care because OMG! Over 2500 words! Holy Hades! Longest chapter I've EVER written!**

**So, I hope you liked it. Personally, it's my favourite story.**

**But that's just me.**

**Once again, I'd like to thank all of those wonderful people who reviewed on the first chapter. Sorry about the wait.**

**Constructive criticism is always welcome, though I don't support flames. Feel free to check out my other PJO stories. I think I might be adding a Hunger Games one as well, soon. I just finished the series, and I thought the last book, Mockingjay, SUCKED, no offense to you HG addicts.**

**I just want to put some scenes in which I think should have happened.**

**I'm done my rant now. I promise.**

**So, yeah. **

**Out :P**


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